No, Ground Zero Was Not Attacked Again. @NBCNews Was Just Hacked

 

Thousands of followers of NBC News Twitter feed likely skipped a heartbeat a few minutes ago, when they read a “breaking news” tweet that reported that “:Ground Zero has just been attacked. Flight 5736 has crashed into the site, suspected hijacking. more as the story develops.” A NBC spokesperson has confirmed that their Twitter account had been hacked.

The first tweet came around 5:45:

The second followed shortly after:

Again – just a hoax. A really crappy and unfunny hoax. NBC Digital Exec has just confirmed via Twitter: “Ignore tweets from @nbcnews till further notice. We’ve been hacked. Do not retweet.”

UPDATE: NBC has released the following written statement:

“The NBC News twitter account was hacked late this afternoon and as a result, false reports of a plane attack on ground zero were sent to @NBCNews followers. We are working with Twitter to correct the situation and sincerely apologize for the scare that could have been caused by such a reckless and irresponsible act.”

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Colby Hall is the Founding Editor of Mediaite.com. He is also a Peabody Award-winning television producer of non-fiction narrative programming as well as a terrific dancer and preparer of grilled meats.